DMB
13 Mar 2010, 11:23 AM
http://www.english.globalarabnetwork.com/201003095124/Lebanon-Politics/lebanese-march-for-secularism-ongoing-power-sharing.html
Article 9 of the Constitution clearly determines the secular character of the Lebanese state and consequently the secular character of Lebanese citizenship. Lebanon is a republican and secular state in which all citizens are equal. In theory, that is.
In practice, however, Lebanon is controlled by a political oligarchy composed of businessmen, community leaders, descendents of feudal families and former militia chiefs who, from the first days of independence, used their influence to allocate state positions through confessional haggling. Renegotiated whenever a major political crisis occurred in Lebanon's short history, this horse-trading system is now well encamped outside the democratic sphere and worse yet, is in blatant violation of the text of the Constitution.
In fact, the nation's legislators never established a civil status that would distinguish Lebanese citizens from their religious status. Citizenship is contingent on religion first and foremost, since all personal legal acts (birth, marriage, death and inheritance) are recorded in separate official records established along religious lines.
Article 9 of the Constitution clearly determines the secular character of the Lebanese state and consequently the secular character of Lebanese citizenship. Lebanon is a republican and secular state in which all citizens are equal. In theory, that is.
In practice, however, Lebanon is controlled by a political oligarchy composed of businessmen, community leaders, descendents of feudal families and former militia chiefs who, from the first days of independence, used their influence to allocate state positions through confessional haggling. Renegotiated whenever a major political crisis occurred in Lebanon's short history, this horse-trading system is now well encamped outside the democratic sphere and worse yet, is in blatant violation of the text of the Constitution.
In fact, the nation's legislators never established a civil status that would distinguish Lebanese citizens from their religious status. Citizenship is contingent on religion first and foremost, since all personal legal acts (birth, marriage, death and inheritance) are recorded in separate official records established along religious lines.